System and method for third party monitoring of voice and video calls

ABSTRACT

A system is described herein that facilitates the monitoring of inmate communications. The system provides a remotely-accessible means for a reviewer to monitor a call between an inmate and another person. The system includes a monitoring server and a monitoring station. The monitoring server is configured to receive a call and call information from a communication center and process the call for monitoring, schedule a review of the call; and store the call, the call information, and scheduling data. The monitoring station is configured to receive the call and the call information from the monitoring server based on the scheduling data, and to display the identifying information and facilitate the review of the call.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 15/331,414, filed Oct. 21, 2016, which is a continuation applicationof U.S. application Ser. No. 15/093,300 filed Apr. 7, 2016, now U.S.Pat. No. 9,609,121, each of which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

BACKGROUND Field

The disclosure relates to a monitoring system that facilitates thirdparty monitoring of inmate audio and video communications.

Background

Correctional facilities provide inmates with the ability to communicatewith friends, families, and visitors as it improves recidivism andprovides incentives for inmates to follow rules and policies of thefacility. In addition to traditional telephone calls and telephonevisitations, correctional facilities seek to offer a wide variety ofcommunication services to inmates, such as video visitation and videocalls, among others. However, as the amount of communication optionsavailable to inmates increases, an increased amount of monitoring isrequired for these communications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a partof the specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosureand, together with the description, further serve to explain theprinciples of the disclosure and to enable a person skilled in thepertinent art to make and use the embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a monitoring system, according toexemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a monitoring center, according toexemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a monitoring server, according toexemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an application server, according to exemplaryembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of storage devices, according toexemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a monitoring station, according to exemplaryembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a user interface of a monitoring station, accordingto exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method for monitoring acall, according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method for reviewing a calland monitoring a reviewer, according to exemplary embodiments of thepresent disclosure; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a computer system, according to exemplaryembodiments of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicateidentical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left mostdigit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which thereference number first appears.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following Detailed Description refers to accompanying drawings toillustrate exemplary embodiments consistent with the disclosure.References in the Detailed Description to “one exemplary embodiment,”“an exemplary embodiment,” “an example exemplary embodiment,” etc.,indicate that the exemplary embodiment described may include aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every exemplaryembodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same exemplary embodiment. Further, when a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anexemplary embodiment, it is within the knowledge of those skilled in therelevant art(s) to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic inconnection with other exemplary embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

The exemplary embodiments described herein are provided for illustrativepurposes, and are not limiting. Other exemplary embodiments arepossible, and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodimentswithin the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the DetailedDescription is not meant to limit the invention. Rather, the scope ofthe invention is defined only in accordance with the following claimsand their equivalents.

Embodiments may be implemented in hardware (e.g., circuits), firmware,software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments may also beimplemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, whichmay be read and executed by one or more processors. A machine-readablemedium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting informationin a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computing device). For example,a machine-readable medium may include read only memory (ROM); randomaccess memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media;flash memory devices; electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms ofpropagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digitalsignals, etc.), and others. Further, firmware, software, routines,instructions may be described herein as performing certain actions.However, it should be appreciated that such descriptions are merely forconvenience and that such actions in fact result from computing devices,processors, controllers, or other devices executing the firmware,software, routines, instructions, etc. Further, any of theimplementation variations may be carried out by a general purposecomputer, as described below.

For purposes of this discussion, any reference to the term “module”shall be understood to include at least one of software, firmware, andhardware (such as one or more circuit, microchip, or device, or anycombination thereof), and any combination thereof. In addition, it willbe understood that each module may include one, or more than one,component within an actual device, and each component that forms a partof the described module may function either cooperatively orindependently of any other component forming a part of the module.Conversely, multiple modules described herein may represent a singlecomponent within an actual device. Further, components within a modulemay be in a single device or distributed among multiple devices in awired or wireless manner.

The following Detailed Description of the exemplary embodiments will sofully reveal the general nature of the invention that others can, byapplying knowledge of those skilled in relevant art(s), readily modifyand/or adapt for various applications such exemplary embodiments,without undue experimentation, without departing from the spirit andscope of the disclosure. Therefore, such adaptations and modificationsare intended to be within the meaning and plurality of equivalents ofthe exemplary embodiments based upon the teaching and guidance presentedherein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminologyherein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, suchthat the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is tobe interpreted by those skilled in relevant art(s) in light of theteachings herein.

Overview

Communication between inmates and outsiders has been shown to be anextremely important part of rehabilitation. Allowing for an inmate tokeep in contact with friends and family significantly helps to reducerecidivism as well as to prepare an inmate for life after prison.Because most inmates are eventually released back into the public, anysteps to minimize problems with their re-assimilation with society arehighly beneficial.

Traditionally, communications between inmates and outsiders onlyincluded telephone calling and letter writing. However, over the years,newer technologies such as email, texting, and video calling have beenused by correctional facilities. Typically, some form of monitoring hasbeen used by correction facilities for all these types ofcommunications.

In the case of telephone and video calling, a large amount of time isrequired to monitor the audio and video communications. Specifically, intypical monitoring systems, a reviewer, such as an officer, listens toan audio communication or watches a video communication of an inmatecommunicating with an outsider. In general, the monitoring systems allowthe reviewer to listen to or watch a communication live and/or thecommunication is recorded for later review. However, most correctionalfacilities do not have a sufficient amount of personnel available tomonitor all of the audio or video communications of inmates. Therefore,many correctional facilities typically monitor a selective amount oflive communications and record all remaining communications for laterreview if an investigation points to a particular inmate, a phonenumber, or a time of day of an event. Based on the limited amount ofpersonnel, many correctional facilities are forced to limit an amount ofcalls that each inmate may have during a time period (e.g., 1 call perday) and/or an amount of time that each inmate may have during a timeperiod (e.g., 300 minutes a month).

In addition to recording communications, typical monitoring systems alsohave capabilities to convert speech to text which allows a reviewer tosearch for key words or phrases. However, many of these technologies donot go far enough to detect covert communications such as slang, jargon,or body jesters that are not typically used in describing criminalactivity.

In light of the above, the present disclosure provides a system to allowa third party to monitor voice and video calls. This consists of amonitoring system that allows a reviewer to remotely listen to an audiocall or watch a video call and provide alerts to either officers oradministrators regarding any suspicious behavior or communicationbetween an inmate and an outsider such as family, friends, or anotherinmate. By providing a monitoring system for managing the differentcommunications, a significant burden can be removed from officers andadministrators, while simultaneously increasing inmates communicationtime.

Monitoring System

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a monitoring system 100, accordingto exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The monitoringsystem 100 includes a monitoring center 110 configured to receivecommunication session data from a communication center 120. In thisdisclosure, a session refers to a communication between two parties, inparticular, an audio or video communication between an inmate using aninmate communication device 130 and an outsider using a communicationdevice 140. The session data may include the session itself and datarelated to the session, as will be described in further detail below.The monitoring center 110 connects to the communication center 120 via anetwork 101. The network 101 may include a Local-Area Network (LAN), aWide-Area Network (WAN), or the Internet.

In an embodiment, the communication center 120 connects the inmatecommunication device 130 to the communication device 140. The inmatecommunication device 130 includes any or all devices such as an audioand video communications device(s) 132, wireless devices 135 a or 135 b,and/or a control station 136. The communication center 120 also connectsto a wireless access point 134 (e.g., a router), which may provideconnectivity to the wireless devices 135 a and 135 b. The communicationcenter 120 connects to the inmate communication device 130 via a LAN103.

The communication center 120 connects to the communication device 140via any or all of a WAN 105, the Internet 107, and the Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN) 109. The WAN 105 may facilitate communicationswith other nearby prisons, such as those within the same county, state,etc. Audio and/or video devices 142 located at those other facilitiesmay provide cross-facility visitations between inmates. In anembodiment, WebRTC may be utilized in place of a session initiationprotocol (SIP) over a WAN or the Internet, each of which provides adedicated, private link between the inmate communication device 130 andthe communication device 140.

The Internet 107 is utilized to provide access to remote stations 144such as remotely distributed control stations, scheduling clients, andhome visitation devices. The PSTN 109 can be used to provideconnectivity to basic telephones and other communication devices (notshown) over traditional data networks.

Monitoring Center

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a monitoring center 200, accordingto exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The monitoringcenter 200 may be an exemplary embodiment of the monitoring center 110of FIG. 1. The monitoring center 200 includes a monitoring server 202which communicates with monitoring stations 204 a and 204 b and with anadministrator device(s) 206. For example, the monitoring server 202interfaces with the monitoring stations 204 a and 204 b and/or theadministrator device(s) 206 via a network 201 when receiving sessiondata from the communication center 120 and can transmit the session datato at least one of the monitoring stations 204 a and 204 b or theadministrator device(s) 206.

The monitoring center 200 also allows communication between themonitoring, stations 204 a and 204 b and the administrator device(s)206. For example, a monitoring station 204 a may communicate with theadministrator device 206 to provide information or an alert in regardsto a particular session received from the communication center 120.

In an embodiment the monitoring center 200 is further configured tointerrupt and/or disconnect a communication between parties of a livecommunication session. For example, the monitoring stations 204 a or 204b is configured to facilitate a reviewer to interrupt a communicationsession and issue a warning to either of or both sides of thecommunication session. The warning may be of the same format as themonitored communication session—voice, text (chat), or video. Theoccurrence of an interrupting event may be clearable in session logs. Asanother example, the monitoring stations 204 a or 204 b may beconfigured to disconnect a communication session between the parties,and the monitoring center may superimpose an audible or visual messagethat is played to the parties of the session describing the reason forthe disconnection of service. A disconnection event can be clearlyflagged in session logs. Further, the capability of interrupting ordisconnecting a communication session may be limited to only be allowedif configured in the system on a user by user profile basis.

In an embodiment, the administrator device(s) 206 can include one ormore of a phone, computer, tablet, fax machine, or pager having acapability of receiving a communication from monitoring station 204 a or204 b. For example, a reviewer using the monitoring station 204 a cansend an email alert to an administrator, and the administrator can viewthe email alert by way of a phone, a computer, and/or a tablet thatrepresent the administrator devices 206.

The network 201 can include a LAN, a WAN, or the Internet. Accordingly,the monitoring center 200 can be located on-site or at a remotemonitoring location, and allows monitors, corrections officers, orothers to monitor a session between an inmate and an outsider inreal-time, on delay, or in the form of an audio or video recording.

Monitoring Server

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a monitoring server 300, accordingto exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The monitoringserver 300 may represent an exemplary embodiment of the monitoringserver 202 of FIG. 2. The monitoring server 300 includes an audio server302, a video server 304, an application server 308, and data storage310, that are all connected to each other via a network bus 312.

Each of the servers 302-306 can be constructed as individual physicalhardware devices, or as virtual servers. The number of physical hardwaremachines can be scaled to match the number of simultaneous userconnections desired to be supported in the monitoring system 100.

The audio server 302 can consist of any number of servers, and isconfigured to receive audio session data via the communication center120. The audio server 302 supports sessions between inmates andoutsiders that use audio devices such as an audio session between aninmate using the audio communication device 132 and an outsider using atelephone connected to the PSTN 109. The audio server 302 facilitatesthe real-time recording and delayed monitoring of audio sessions. Theaudio server 302 is configured to simultaneously record and transmitaudio session data to the monitoring station 204 a and/or 204 b. Forexample, when an inmate uses an the audio communication device 132 tohave an audio session with another inmate using the audio communicationdevice 142, the audio server 302 receives audio session data from thecommunication center 120, records the audio session data, and transmitsthe audio session data to the monitoring station(s) 204 a and/or 204 b.The audio server 302 may store audio session as audio files on aninternal storage or an external storage, as will be explained in moredetail below.

The video server 304 can consist of any number of servers, and isconfigured to receive video session data via the communication center120. The video server 304 supports video sessions between inmates andoutsiders that use video devices such as a video session between aninmate using the video communication device 132 and an outsider usingthe video communication device 142. The video server 304 facilitates thereal-time and delayed monitoring of video sessions. The video server 304is configured to simultaneously record and transmit video session datato a monitoring station. For example, when an inmate uses the wirelessdevice 135 a to have a video session with a family member using theremote station 144, the video server 304 can receive video session datavia the communication center 120, record the video session data, andtransmit the video session data to the monitoring station(s) 204 aand/or 204 b. The video server 304 may store the video sessions as videofiles on an internal storage or an external storage, as will beexplained in more detail below.

Because there may be a variety of different video communicationstandards employed by different video devices that wish to participatein video calls, in an embodiment, the video server 304 may also performreal-time format conversion. The conversion may convert incoming signalsas needed, or may convert outgoing signals to be compatible withmonitoring stations 204 a and 204 b.

Because the audio server 302 and the video server 304 receive andtransmit session data by way of a network, in an exemplary embodiment,both the audio server 302 and the video server 304 can decrypt receivedsession data and encrypt session data prior to transmitting the sessiondata, for security purposes. Further, the audio server 302 and the videoserver 304 may record or store audio and video files on either internalstorage or the data storage 310.

FIG. 4 illustrates an application server 400, according to exemplaryembodiments of the present disclosure. The application server 400 mayrepresent an exemplary embodiment of the application server 308 depictedin FIG. 3. The application server 400 functions as the primary logicprocessing center in the monitoring system 100. The application server400 includes one or more central processing units (CPU) 410 connectedvia a bus 412 to several other peripherals. Such peripherals include aninput device, such as a keyboard and/or mouse 420, a monitor 422 fordisplaying information, a network interface card 424 and/or a modem 426that provide network connectivity and communication.

The application server 400 also includes internal data storage 430. Thisdata storage 430 is non-volatile storage, such as one or more magnetichard disk drives (HDDs) and/or one or more solid state drives (SSDs).The data storage 430 is used to store a variety of important files,documents, or other digital information, such as the operating systemfiles, application files, user data, and/or temporary recording space.

The application server 400 also includes system memory 440. The systemmemory 440 is preferably faster and more efficient than the data storage430, and is configured as random access memory (RAM) in an embodiment.The system memory 440 contains the runtime environment of theapplication server, storing temporary data for any of the operatingsystem 442, java virtual machine 444, java application server 446, andmonitoring control logic 448.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of storage devices 500, according toexemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The storage devices 500may represent an exemplary embodiment of the data storage 310 of FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 5, the storage devices 500 provide access to a widevariety of data. The configuration data store 510 allows the system tobe configured with a variety of different hardware types andmanufacturers, and allow for more error-free interface and monitoring atthe monitoring stations 204 a and 204 b. The configuration data store510 may also include the connection details of one or more hardwaredevices anticipated to be used for audio or video sessions received fromthe communication center 120, such as the video and audio servers, webservers, application servers, and remote devices. Inmate data store 520includes information about individual inmates, such as name, address,commitment information, etc. The inmate data store 520 may also includeinformation relating to the case workers or correctional officersassigned to the inmate. These records may be directly entered, or may beobtained from an Inmate Telephone System, Jail Management System, or thecommunication system 120.

Although information regarding an outsider may be directly stored in therespective databases, an outsider data store 530 may be provided in anembodiment to separately store outsider information. The outsiderinformation may include a name or identity and/or contact information,such as phone or address, of the outsider that is communicating with theinmate. The outsider information may also be identified in various onesof the data stores 510-580 by name or identifier only and thisname/identifier may include a link to full biographical information ofthe outsider in the outsider data store 530.

Real-time communication data store 540 receives and temporarily storesinformation regarding a current ongoing session. The real-timecommunication information is received from the communication center 120and may include session annotations, bookmarks, or alerts from areviewer and/or connection data regarding a currently reviewed audio orvideo session. For example, the real-time communication data store 540can receive session data regarding a detected three-way call in an audiosession, such as by the detection of a hook-flash or other indicatingevent, and/or any other event that can be generated by a telephone.

Historical communication data store 550 stores information relating toprior audio and video sessions. The information included within theserecords can consist of prior session data of the inmate involved in thesession, the outsider, the resources used for prior calls, including thetype of devices used by each of the parties, the date/time of the audioor video sessions, the duration, etc. This information can be populatedby the application server 400 by tracking and monitoring visits, andrecording the data associated therewith.

Scheduling data store 560 stores session events that have not yetoccurred as well as historical session information (e.g., sessionrecords). In this regard, the scheduling data store 560 stores acalendar of scheduled sessions, as well as information relating to thosescheduled sessions, such as the parties to be involved, their contactinformation, and the communication devices to be used by thoseindividuals. The session schedule records may include links to datarelating to any of the involved parties, including inmates, visitors,and correctional staff (if needed). In an embodiment, a separate datastore can be used to store the session records. Further, in anembodiment, the session records may include a link to the originalsession reservation, any recordings or transcripts of the session,and/or a list of the actual resources used, if they differ from thescheduled resources.

The scheduling data store 560 also stores monitoring station assignmentsincluding historical, present, and future assignments for reviewers. Inparticular, the monitoring station assignments can include informationindicating audio or video sessions that have or will be reviewed, theidentity of reviewer(s) that have been or are scheduled to review theaudio or video sessions, monitoring station identification, date/timeand duration of a review, etc.

Audio data store 570 can store audio files created from the audiosession data received from the communication center 120. The audio datastore 570 can also store modified audio files such as those that havebeen reviewed and annotated. The audio data store 570 may function as atemporary storage for an audio file in situations such as duringcreation of a non-modified audio file or modified audio file. The audiodata store 570 may be used as the primary storage for the audio server302 or used as a backup for the audio server 302.

Video data store 580 can store video files created from the videosession data received from the communication center 120. The video datastore 580 can also store modified video files such as those that havebeen reviewed and annotated. The video data store 580 may function as atemporary storage for a video file in situations such as during creationof a non-modified video file or modified video file. The video datastore 580 may be used as the primary storage for the video server 304 orused as a backup for the video server 304.

Because the data stored on the data stores 510-580, especially audio andvideo files, consume significant amounts of storage space, this data canbe stored on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device 590 configured as amass storage device. The data stores 510-580 may include links and/orpointers to recording data located on the NAS device 590. In order toreduce the required size of the NAS device 590, the NAS devicepreferably includes a backup routine to transfer recording data topermanent storage devices, such as archival permanent storage or opticaldisks, after a predetermined time has elapsed since the initialrecording of that data. The NAS device 590 is connected to the datastores by way of the network 501.

Monitoring Station

FIG. 6 illustrates a monitoring station 600, according to exemplaryembodiments of the present disclosure. The monitoring station 600 may bean exemplary embodiment of the monitoring station 204 a or 204 b of FIG.2. The monitoring station 600 functions as a remote reviewing center inthe monitoring system 100. The monitoring station 600 may include acomputer, tablet, or phone capable of viewing a user interface andincludes one or more central processing units (CPU) 610 connected via abus 601 to several other peripherals. Such peripherals include an inputdevice, such as a keyboard and/or mouse 620 and a camera and/ormicrophone 628, a monitor 622 for displaying a user interface (e.g.,FIG. 7), a network interface card 624 and/or a modem 626 that providenetwork connectivity and communication.

The monitoring station 600 also includes internal data storage 630. Thisdata storage 630 is non-volatile storage, such as one or more magnetichard disk drives (HDDs) or solid state drives (SSDs). The data storage630 is used to store a variety of important files, documents, or otherdigital information, such as the operating system files, applicationfiles, user data, and/or temporary recording space.

The monitoring station 600 also includes system memory 640. The systemmemory 640 is preferably faster and more efficient than the data storage630, and is configured as random access memory (RAM) in an embodiment.The system memory 640 contains the runtime environment of the monitoringstation, storing temporary data for any of the operating system 642,java virtual machine 644, java application server 646, and monitoringstation control logic 648.

FIG. 7 illustrates a user interface 700 of a monitoring station,according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The userinterface 700 may represent an exemplary embodiment of a user interfacefor the monitoring station 600 of FIG. 6. The user interface 700includes an interface window 702 having different panels to facilitatereview of a session between an inmate and an outsider. The interfacewindow 702 includes a communication panel 710, a message panel 720, adata panel 730, and a control panel 740. The communication panel 710includes a recordation panel 712 used to play, pause, rewind, and fastforward a communication. The recordation panel 712 includes timeindicators such as a current time or a duration of the communication.For video calls, the communication panel 710 includes multiple screens714 and 716 to show the inmate and the outsider. The screens 714 and 716may include indicators of the inmate's name and the outsider's nameand/or other identifying information of the parties involved.

The message panel 720 facilitates a reviewer in taking notes during acommunication. The message panel 720 may include an outgoing messagearea 722 where a reviewer inserts a message by way of a input device,such as the keyboard 620 of FIG. 6. The outgoing message area 722facilitates a reviewer in performing tasks such as entering a messageinto a record or sending a message to an administrator when the reviewerpresses the enter button 724. The message panel 720 also includes anincoming message window 726 that displays messages received from themonitoring server 202. For example, the incoming message window 726 candisplay a code that the reviewer has to enter into the message area 722to verify that a reviewer is performing monitoring duties. The incomingmessage window 726 may also display annotations/bookmarks or alertscreated by a previous reviewer or that were automatically created by theaudio server 302 or the video server 304 so as to alert the reviewer tosuspicious behavior occurring at a particular time in the call. Forexample, while a reviewer is reviewing a session, the incoming messagewindow 726 can display an annotation at a time during the session that aprevious reviewer made the annotation.

The data panel 730 provides a reviewer with access to data that may benecessary for monitoring a communication. The data panel 730 ispopulated by data from the data stores 510-590. The data panel 730 caninclude an inmate data button 732, an outsider data button 734, areal-time communication data button 736, and a historical communicationsdata button 738. When a reviewer pushes one of the buttons, datapertaining to the specific button is viewed in a data window. Forexample, as shown by FIG. 7, a reviewer may view historicalcommunications of the inmate by clicking on the historicalcommunications data button 738 to view data in the viewing window 739pertaining to prior communications. The data viewed in the data window,for example viewing window 739, is populated from data stored on a datastorage used by the monitoring server 202.

The control panel 740 includes controls for performing tasks while areviewer monitors a session. The control panel 740 can include buttonsfor searching a record of the inmate, creating a bookmark at a specifictime of the communication, creating an annotation at a specific time ofthe communication, contacting an administrator of the inmate, completingthe review, and/or changing settings.

Monitoring Center Operation

The monitoring center 200 provides monitoring capabilities for a thirdparty reviewer and capabilities in supervising the reviewer. Anoperation of the monitoring center 200 will be described with respect toFIG. 8, which illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method 800 formonitoring a call, according to exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Although the physical devices and components that form thesystem have largely already been described, additional details regardingtheir more nuanced operation will be described below with respect toFIGS. 1-7.

The monitoring center 200 begins a monitoring procedure (802). Themonitoring server 202 receives session data associated with a scheduledsession, either voice or video session, from the communication center100 (840). In an embodiment, the session data may be received prior tothe session or simultaneously with the session. However, as describedfor this exemplary embodiment, the session data is received prior toreceipt of an associated session. Upon receiving the session data, themonitoring center may assign an identification to the session data. Theidentification is used for scheduling purposes and associates ascheduled session to inmate records.

The monitoring server 202 then schedules a reviewer to the scheduledsession (806). In scheduling a reviewer, the monitoring server 202coordinates between such stored data as the inmate data, revieweravailability, outsider data, or historical communication data. Forexample, the monitoring server 202 can schedule a reviewer based onwhether a real-time monitoring is required for a particular inmate oroutsider per the data stored in the inmate data store 520, the outsiderdata store 530, and the historical communication data store 550.

The monitoring server 202 receives the scheduled session (808) andbegins recording and processing the session and session data (810). Forexample, monitoring server 202 can process the session to link presentcommunication data received such that the inmate's phone number and theoutsider's phone number are linked to the session. Further, themonitoring server 202 can process the session by inserting timestampswithin or retrieving timestamps from a session file. For example, themonitoring server 202 can insert a timestamp at predetermined segmentlengths (e.g., every 10 seconds) of the session. The timestampsfacilitate synchronization with annotation, bookmarks, alerts, etc.received from monitoring stations such that annotations/bookmarks/alertsfrom multiple reviewers may be viewed according to the time created inrelation to the session. During the storing and processing of thesession, the monitoring server 202 can simultaneously transmit thesession data to at least one of the monitoring stations 204 a and/or 204b (812).

Next, the session is reviewed at the monitoring station(s) 204 a and/or204 b by a reviewer at 814. During the review of the session, which maybe real-time or pre-recorded, the reviewer, by way of the user interface700, can pause, rewind, and fast forward the session. Using themonitoring station, the reviewer can also view inmate data, outsiderdata, real-time communication data, and/or historical communication dataif needed on the user interface.

As will be explained in more detail below, the monitoring server 202 andthe monitoring stations 204 a and 204 b may further monitor thereviewer's progress on reviewing the session (814). After the sessionhas been reviewed at (814), the monitoring server 202 ends themonitoring procedure (816).

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method 900 for reviewing asession and monitoring a reviewer, according to exemplary embodiments ofthe present disclosure. The method 900 may represent an exemplaryembodiment of reviewing of a session (814) of FIG. 8. A review procedurecan be performed by the monitoring server 202 and a monitoring stationor by a monitoring station alone, as will be described in detail below.The following description will discuss a review procedure performed bythe monitoring server 202 in conjunction with a monitoring station. Whenthe monitoring server 202 transmits a session, either real-time orpre-recorded, and session data to a monitoring station, such asmonitoring stations 204 a and/or 204 b, the review procedure begins(902).

The monitoring server 202 determines whether input data, such as anannotation, a flag, or a bookmark, has been received from the monitoringstation 204 a or 204 b. If determined that an annotation/bookmark hasbeen received, the monitoring server 202 stores the annotation/bookmark,tags the annotation/bookmark with an identifier, and links theannotation/bookmark with the session (906) such that theannotation/bookmark can be viewed separate from the session or viewed inconjunction with the session at the associated time of the session whenthe annotation/bookmark was created. The monitoring server 202 can matcha timestamp of the session with a timestamp of when theannotation/bookmark was made by the reviewer. Synchronizing theannotation/bookmark facilitates future review of the session along withthe annotation/bookmark. For example, if a first reviewer using monitorstation 204 a makes an annotation at a timestamp of 3 minutes in thecall, a second reviewer can either view the annotation as a separatenote or view the annotation in the incoming message screen 726 of FIG. 7at the 3 minute mark of the session.

After storing and linking the annotation/bookmark, the monitoring server202 determines whether the review procedure is finished (914). Thedetermination of whether the review is finished can be based on multiplefactors. Such factors may include whether the communication has endedand/or whether the reviewer has ended the monitoring session.

If no annotation/bookmark have been received, the monitoring server 202determines whether additional input data such as an alert has beenreceived (908) from the monitoring station 204 a or 204 b. If determinedthat an alert has been received, the monitoring server 202 stores thealert and links the alert with the call (910). Similar to a receivedannotation/bookmark, the monitoring server 202 synchronizes an alertsuch that the alert can be viewed at a particular time of the sessionwhen viewed at a later time. After storing and linking the alert, themonitoring system 202 determines whether the review procedure isfinished (914).

Aside from providing recorded notes of a session, the annotations,bookmarks, and alerts also facilitate the monitoring of a reviewer. Forexample, when an annotation is received from a monitoring station, themonitoring server 202 determines that the reviewer is attentive andreviewing the session. However, when neither an annotation, bookmark, oran alert is received from a monitoring station within a predeterminedtime, the monitoring server 202 presumes that the reviewer is notproperly monitoring the session. Accordingly, the monitoring server 202can perform a monitor verification (912). The verification may beperformed by the monitoring server 202 transmitting a verificationcommand the monitoring station and requiring that the reviewer perform asimple task. The verification command may require a reviewer at themonitoring station 204 a or 204 b to perform a task. For example, themonitoring server 202 may transmit a message, such as shown in theincoming message window 726 of FIG. 7, that requires the reviewer toenter a code. As another example, the reviewer may be required toperform a biometric verification such as looking/speaking into acamera/microphone (e.g., the camera/microphone 628 of FIG. 6) forretinal, facial, and/or voice verification. The monitoring station 204 aor 204 b transmits a response to the verification command and based onwhether the task is completed, the monitoring system can determinewhether or not to finish the review procedure (914).

In an embodiment, the review process may be performed entirely by amonitoring station. For example, the monitoring station 204 a mayreceive a session, either real-time or pre-recorded, and begin thereview procedure (902). In receiving the session, the monitoring station204 a can download the session on to a local storage of the monitoringstation 204 a. Next, the monitoring station 204 a can determine whetheran annotation/bookmark is input by a reviewer (904). When determinedthat an annotation/bookmark has been input, the monitoring station 204 acan store the annotation/bookmark on a local storage, tag theannotation/bookmark with an identifier, and synchronize theannotation/bookmark, by timestamp, with the session. Similarly, themonitoring station 204 a can determine whether the reviewer wants tosend an alert to an administrator (908). If determined that an alert isto be sent, the monitoring station 204 a stores the alert on a localstorage, tags the alert by an identifier, links the alert to a timestampof the session, and sends the alert to the administrator.

Similar to the monitoring server 202, if no annotation/bookmark has beeninputted or no alert has been submitted, the monitoring station 204 acan perform a monitor verification (912) to determine whether thereviewer is attentive. The monitoring station 204 a can determinewhether the reviewer is being attentive based on the results of themonitor verification.

When the monitoring station 204 a has determined that the review isfinished (914), the monitoring station 204 a uploads the annotations,bookmarks, and alerts to the monitoring server 202, and the reviewprocedure is finished (916).

Exemplary Computer Implementation

It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) thatvarious, elements and features of the present disclosure, as describedherein, can be implemented in hardware using analog and/or digitalcircuits, in software, through the execution of computer instructions byone or more general purpose or special-purpose processors, or as acombination of hardware and software.

The following description of a general purpose computer system isprovided for the sake of completeness. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure can be implemented in hardware, or as a combination ofsoftware and hardware. Consequently, embodiments of the disclosure maybe implemented in the environment of a computer system or otherprocessing system. For example, the methods of FIGS. 8 and 9 can beimplemented in the environment of one or more computer systems or otherprocessing systems. An example of such a computer system 1000 is shownin FIG. 10. One or more of the modules depicted in the previous figurescan be at least partially implemented on one or more distinct computersystems 1000.

Computer system 1000 includes one or more processors, such as processor1004. Processor 1004 can be a special purpose or a general purposedigital signal processor. Processor 1004 is connected to a communicationinfrastructure 1002 (for example, a bus or network). Various softwareimplementations are described in terms of this exemplary computersystem. After reading this description, it will become apparent to aperson skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement the disclosureusing other computer systems and/or computer architectures.

Computer system 1000 also includes a main memory 1006, preferably randomaccess memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory 1008.Secondary memory 1008 may include, for example, a hard disk drive 1010and/or a removable storage drive 1012, representing a floppy disk drive,a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, or the like. Removablestorage drive 1012 reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit1016 in a well-known manner. Removable storage unit 1016 represents afloppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, or the like, which is read byand written to by removable storage drive 1012. As will be appreciatedby persons skilled in the relevant art(s), removable storage unit 1016includes a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computersoftware and/or data.

In alternative implementations, secondary memory 1008 may include othersimilar means for allowing computer programs or other instructions to beloaded into computer system 1000. Such means may include, for example, aremovable storage unit 1018 and an interface 1014. Examples of suchmeans may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such asthat found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as anEPROM, or PROM) and associated socket, a thumb drive and USB port, andother removable storage units 1018 and interfaces 1014 which allowsoftware and data to be transferred from removable storage unit 1018 tocomputer system 1000.

Computer system 1000 may also include a communications interface 1020.Communications interface 1020 allows software and data to be transferredbetween computer system 1000 and external devices. Examples ofcommunications interface 1020 may include a modem, a network interface(such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a PCMCIA slot andcard, etc. Software and data transferred via communications interface1020 are in the form of signals which may be electronic,electromagnetic, optical, or other signals capable of being received bycommunications interface 1020. These signals are provided tocommunications interface 1020 via a communications path 1022.Communications path 1022 carries signals and may be implemented usingwire or cable, fiber optics, a phone line, a cellular phone link, an RFlink and other communications channels.

As used herein, the terms “computer program medium” and “computerreadable medium” are used to generally refer to tangible storage mediasuch as removable storage units 1016 and 1018 or a hard disk installedin hard disk drive 1010. These computer program products are means forproviding software to computer system 1000.

Computer programs (also called computer control logic) are stored inmain memory 1006 and/or secondary memory 1008. Computer programs mayalso be received via communications interface 1020. Such computerprograms, when executed, enable the computer system 1000 to implementthe present disclosure as discussed herein. In particular, the computerprograms, when executed, enable processor 1004 to implement theprocesses of the present disclosure, such as any of the methodsdescribed herein. Accordingly, such computer programs representcontrollers of the computer system 1000. Where the disclosure isimplemented using software, the software may be stored in a computerprogram product and loaded into computer system 1000 using removablestorage drive 1012, interface 1014, or communications interface 1020.

In another embodiment, features of the disclosure are implementedprimarily in hardware using, for example, hardware components such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and gate arrays.Implementation of a hardware state machine so as to perform thefunctions described herein will also be apparent to persons skilled inthe relevant art(s).

CONCLUSION

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and notthe Abstract section, is intended to be used to interpret the claims.The Abstract section may set forth one or more, but not all exemplaryembodiments, and thus, is not intended to limit the disclosure and theappended claims in any way.

The invention has been described above with the aid of functionalbuilding blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functionsand relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of thedescription. Alternate boundaries may be defined so long as thespecified functions and relationships thereof are appropriatelyperformed.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) that variouschanges in form and detail can be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, the invention should notbe limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, butshould be defined only in accordance with the following claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A monitoring center for monitoring a review of aninmate communication session, the monitoring center comprising: amonitoring server configured to: schedule a reviewer from among aplurality of reviewers to monitor the inmate communication session,monitor whether data relating to the inmate communication session hasbeen received from the reviewer within a predetermined amount of time,and synchronize the data and the inmate communication session when thedata has been received from the reviewer within the predetermined amountof time; and a monitoring station configured to perform a monitorverification process to require the reviewer to perform a task todetermine whether the reviewer is monitoring the inmate communicationsession when the data has not been received from the reviewer within thepredetermined amount of time.
 2. The monitoring center of claim 1,wherein the data comprises: an alert notifying of suspicious behavioroccurring within the inmate communication session; an annotationnotifying of the suspicious behavior; or a bookmark notifying of thesuspicious behavior.
 3. The monitoring center of claim 1, wherein themonitoring server is further configured to transmit a verificationcommand to the monitoring station to instruct the monitoring station toperform the monitor verification process in response to the data notbeing received from the reviewer within the predetermined amount oftime, and receive a response to the verification command from themonitoring station, the response to the verification command includinginformation associated with the task.
 4. The monitoring center of claim1, wherein the task comprises: entry of a response to a question by thereviewer; entry of a code by the reviewer; or entry of a biometricverification by the reviewer.
 5. The monitoring center of claim 1,wherein the monitoring server is configured to schedule the reviewer inaccordance with data relating to one or more parties associated with theinmate communication session, data relating to an availability of theplurality of reviewers, or data relating to one or more previous inmatecommunication sessions.
 6. The monitoring center of claim 1, wherein themonitoring server comprises: an audio server configured to: store anaudio session associated with the inmate communication session as anaudio file in a data storage, and transmit the audio file to themonitoring station for review by the reviewer, or a video serverconfigured to: store a video session associated with the inmatecommunication session as a video file in the data storage, and transmitthe video file to the monitoring station for review by the reviewer. 7.The monitoring center of claim 6, wherein the audio server is configuredto transmit the audio file to the monitoring station in accordance witha calendar of scheduled sessions, and wherein the video server isconfigured to transmit the video file to the monitoring station inaccordance with the calendar of scheduled sessions.
 8. The monitoringcenter of claim 1, wherein the monitoring station is configured toperform an action affecting the inmate communication session in responseto the data being received from the reviewer within the predeterminedamount of time.
 9. The monitoring center of claim 8, wherein the actioncomprises: an interruption of the inmate communication session; anissuance of a warning to one or more parties of the inmate communicationsession; a disconnection of the inmate communication session; or asuperimposition of an audible or visual message into the inmatecommunication session to describe a reason for the disconnection. 10.The monitoring center of claim 1, wherein the monitoring station isfurther configured to: receive the data from the reviewer, and providethe data received from the reviewer to the monitoring server when thedata has been received from the reviewer within the predetermined amountof time.
 11. A monitoring center for monitoring a review of an inmatecommunication session, the monitoring center comprising: a monitoringserver configured to: schedule a reviewer from among a plurality ofreviewers to review the inmate communication session, and synchronizedata relating to the inmate communication session and the inmatecommunication session when the data has been received from the reviewerwithin a predetermined amount of time; and a monitoring stationconfigured to: monitor whether the data has been received from thereviewer within the predetermined amount of time, and perform a monitorverification process to require the reviewer to perform a task todetermine whether the reviewer is monitoring the inmate communicationsession when the data has not been received from the reviewer within thepredetermined amount of time.
 12. The monitoring center of claim 11,wherein the data, comprises: an alert notifying of suspicious behavioroccurring within the inmate communication session; an annotationnotifying of the suspicious behavior; or a bookmark notifying of thesuspicious behavior.
 13. The monitoring center of claim 11, wherein themonitoring station is further configured to provide the data to themonitoring server when the data has been received from the reviewerwithin the predetermined amount of time.
 14. The monitoring center ofclaim 11, wherein the task comprises: entry of a response to a questionby the reviewer; entry of a code by the reviewer; or entry of abiometric verification by the reviewer.
 15. The monitoring center ofclaim 11, wherein the monitoring server is configured to schedule thereviewer in accordance with data relating one or more parties associatedwith the inmate communication session, data relating to an availabilityof the plurality of reviewers, or data relating to one or more previousinmate communication sessions.
 16. The monitoring center of claim 11,wherein the monitoring server comprises: an audio server configured to:store an audio session associated with the inmate communication sessionas an audio file in a data storage, and transmit the audio file to themonitoring station for review by the reviewer, or a video serverconfigured to: store a video session associated with the inmatecommunication session as a video file in the data storage, and transmitthe video file to the monitoring station for review by the reviewer. 17.The monitoring center of claim 16, wherein the audio server isconfigured to transmit the audio file to the monitoring station inaccordance with a calendar of scheduled sessions, and wherein the videoserver is configured to transmit the video file to the monitoringstation in accordance with the calendar of scheduled sessions.
 18. Themonitoring center of claim 11, wherein the monitoring station isconfigured to perform an action affecting the inmate communicationsession in response to the data being received from the reviewer withinthe predetermined amount of time.
 19. The monitoring center of claim 18,wherein the action comprises: an interruption of the inmatecommunication session; an issuance of a warning to one or more partiesof the inmate communication session; a disconnection of the inmatecommunication session; or a superimposition of an audible or visualmessage into the inmate communication session to describe a reason forthe disconnection.
 20. The monitoring center of claim 11, wherein themonitoring station is further configured to: receive the data from thereviewer, and provide the data received from the reviewer to themonitoring server when the data has been received from the reviewerwithin the predetermined amount of time.
 21. A monitoring center formonitoring a review of an inmate communication session, the monitoringcenter comprising: a monitoring server configured to: schedule areviewer from among a plurality of reviewers to monitor the inmatecommunication session, monitor whether data relating to the inmatecommunication session has been received from the reviewer within apredetermined amount of time, and synchronize the data and the inmatecommunication session when the data has been received from the reviewerwithin the predetermined amount of time; and a monitoring stationconfigured to: provide the data received from the reviewer to themonitoring server when the data has been received from the reviewerwithin the predetermined amount of time, and perform a monitorverification process to require the reviewer to perform a task todetermine whether the reviewer is monitoring the inmate communicationsession when the data has not been received from the reviewer within thepredetermined amount of time.
 22. The monitoring center of claim 21,wherein the monitoring server is configured to match a timestamp of theinmate communication session with a timestamp of the data to synchronizethe data and the inmate communication session.
 23. The monitoring centerof claim 21, wherein the data comprises: an alert notifying ofsuspicious behavior occurring within the inmate communication session;an annotation notifying of the suspicious behavior; or a bookmarknotifying of the suspicious behavior.
 24. The monitoring center of claim21, wherein the monitoring server is further configured to transmit averification command to the monitoring station to instruct themonitoring station to perform the monitor verification process inresponse to the data not being received from the reviewer within thepredetermined amount of time, and receive a response to the verificationcommand from the monitoring station, the response to the verificationcommand including information associated with the task.
 25. Themonitoring center of claim 21, wherein the task comprises: entry of aresponse to a question by the reviewer; entry of a code by the reviewer;or entry of a biometric verification by the reviewer.
 26. The monitoringcenter of claim 21, wherein the monitoring server is configured toschedule the reviewer in accordance with data relating one or moreparties associated with the inmate communication session, data relatingto an availability of the plurality of reviewers, or data relating toone or more previous inmate communication sessions.
 27. The monitoringcenter of claim 21, wherein the monitoring server comprises: an audioserver configured to: store an audio session associated with the inmatecommunication session as an audio file in a data storage, and transmitthe audio file to the monitoring station for review by the reviewer, ora video server configured to: store a video session associated with theinmate communication session as a video file in the data storage, andtransmit the video file to the monitoring station for review by thereviewer.
 28. The monitoring center of claim 27, wherein the audioserver is configured to transmit the audio file to the monitoringstation in accordance with a calendar of scheduled sessions, and whereinthe video server is configured to transmit the video file to themonitoring station in accordance with the calendar of scheduledsessions.
 29. The monitoring center of claim 21, wherein the monitoringstation is configured to perform an action affecting the inmatecommunication session in response to the data being received from thereviewer within the predetermined amount of time.
 30. The monitoringcenter of claim 29, wherein the action comprises: an interruption of theinmate communication session; an issuance of a warning to one or moreparties of the inmate communication session; a disconnection of theinmate communication session; or a superimposition of an audible orvisual message into the inmate communication session to describe areason for the disconnection.